what doesn't kill you makes you stronger
by reduxstep
Summary: AU where Beca/Chloe are doctors in Barden University Hospital. Beca discovers that a biotech company may be hiding a dark secret and she plans to investigate in spite of the dangers that may befall her. Will our two protagonists be able to jointly save the day, and find love in a different setting? This is my first attempt at writing so all reviews are appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

The elevator doors chimed open and a pair of doctors dressed in identical white coats stepped out. The gentleman was tall and slightly balding, but still cut a distinguished figure. The young brunette who walked briskly beside him was petite but had a 'take-charge' aura about her.

Despite her small size, it was clear that she was a force to be reckoned with. Residents and nurses quickly stepped aside to allow the pair to pass. The gentleman politely nodded in response to 'hellos' but his young companion was too involved in the conversation to even notice what was going on around her. She gesticulated to punctuate her phrases as she explained with eloquence befitting a master at the art of word craft, her latest cases to the older man who grunted his responses at the appropriate times. She sighed as she caught her breath at the end of her oration and waited for his opinion. He paused for a moment, formulating his response, a thoughtful expression upon his face. He cleared his throat and began to speak, "Well, I'm not certain Becs, but it seems that-" His response was interrupted by an announcement over the hospital's PA system, "Paging Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Mitchell report to ER."

As though their movements had been synchronized, the pair turned and ran toward the Emergency Room.

Breathlessly, they spoke in synchrony to the startled orderly behind the admittance desk. "Dr. Mitchell, here."

Slightly amused at the sight before him, Jake Ross, the orderly, looked at the pair in front of him. "Sorry for the confusion sir."

Jake gestured at the young brunette standing beside the older gentleman. "The page was actually meant for you, Dr. Mitchell. They've got a code blue incoming in five."

"I'm not going to be able to get prepped fast enough. Where's Swanson?" He's the cardiothoracic surgeon on call in the ER today."

"Emergency triple bypass in OR 3, both cardiology teams are on it."

"What about the third?"

"Scrapped, not enough docs to cover it."

"Who else did you page?"

"Dr. Conrad. She's prepped and waiting, and two of the new residents are with her."

"Conrad is an Intensivist, for crying out loud! Well then, what are we wasting time here for?" she asked to no one in particular as she took off toward the prep room.

"Right, well, good luck, Becs. We still on for lunch?" "Of course," she shouted over her shoulder. "Thanks, Dad."

* * *

"Well, Dr. Beale, welcome to the Barden University Emergency Department." A sturdy black woman dressed in a standard white coat explained to the young redhead doctor who was walking half a pace behind her as they walked through the chaotic lobby with doctors and patients running in what seemed to be totally random directions. Dr. Beale's lips parted in a wide grin as she took in the chaos around her, her blue eyes twinkling.

"Nothing I haven't seen before Dr. Rose."

"But enough with the formalities. Call me Chloe."

Cynthia Rose couldn't help but smile back at the redhead. Dr. Beale was definitely a gorgeous doctor with a beautiful smile. Too bad she was already taken.

"Well Chloe, I know it may already seem overwhelming, but trust me it can get a lot worse. You should have seen last Friday when they brought in those …"

As if on cue, the hospital PA system sounded above the din in the ER. "Dr. Rose to admitting. Paging Dr. Rose."

Cynthia Rose sighed. It already felt like the makings of a long day and it was only 9am in the morning. She excused herself and promised the younger doctor that she would return shortly to finish the tour.

Mere moments after Dr. Rose's departure, Chloe heard the sounds of an approaching ambulance and the loud voices of the paramedics. Her face fell instantly when she heard what they were saying – an incoming code blue and both cardiology teams were on a triple bypass elsewhere.

She rushed into the ER prep room and quickly changed out of her lab coat and attire into a set of blue scrubs before heading into the room where the orderlies and paramedics had taken the patient. "On three. Ready, one...two...three." Five pairs of hands gently moved the patient from the gurney onto the exam table.

Chloe assessed the situation quickly, and stated in a calm voice that carried over the clatter and noise that pervaded the room, "Keep him on the O2, let's get an ECG in here and hook up the leads, and get him intubated."

Several faces turned toward the source of the unknown voice, the puzzled looks on their faces caused her to add "Stat!" to her command. She worked her way toward the patient as the young residents and nurses quickly assembled the necessary equipment and began hooking up tubes and wires to the patient.

"All right, what have we got?" she asked the paramedic who was silently moving aside, allowing the doctors to do their job.

"Uh, 30-year old Caucasian male, no prior known medical conditions, no allergies, collapsed at work," the young paramedic responded.

"Uh, doctor?" she heard a female voice call out in her direction.

"Yes? What have you got?" she asked. "BP is 80 over 50 and falling, pulse is faint and irregular, 40 maybe 42." "We're losing him!"

A loud, long beep was emitted from the ECG monitor. "He's flatlined!" "Get the crash cart!" she heard a young man yell. "No!" Chloe cried out. "We can't defibrillate! Look at the ECG readings. Failure's due to asystole, not V-Fib. Get me thirty milligrams of epi stat!" Almost instantly, a large syringe was placed in her outstretched hand.

Chloe tapped the syringe, sending the tiny bubbles to the top and pressed in the plunger, squirting a bit of the clear liquid into the air. She took a deep breath and stuck the needle into the man's bare chest. She pushed the plunger in all the way and removed the needle. The man's muscles contracted violently as his whole body was gripped in spasms. A long moment later, the long loud beep of the ECG was replaced by a steady beeping. "We got a pulse!" "We have normal sinus rhythm!" someone exclaimed.

Just then the ER doors swung open and Chloe saw a petite woman wearing a lab coat over her matching blue Barden scrubs enter the room. She quickly snapped on a pair of gloves as her eyes swept across the exam room in a quick survey. She moved toward the patient, standing right next to Chloe but barely acknowledging her presence.

"Conrad," she said, looking toward one of the other female doctors in the room, who simply nodded in response. "Okay what have we got?" she asked. "Asystolic 30-year old Caucasian male, no known allergies, no previous medical problems, no history of high blood pressure. He flatlined at 9:07, revived with thirty milligrams of epinephrine at 9:08," Dr. Conrad explained quickly. "What are his allergies?"

"Like I said, none"

"That can't be right, unless he OD'd, and I highly doubt that."

She nodded toward the patient on the exam table. "This guy went into anaphylactic shock. Where was he when he collapsed?"

"At work," one of the residents offered.

"Well, where does he work?"

Someone grabbed the admittance info that the medics had left behind. "Says here he works at Biotex." "Biotex! Get his blood tested, send the samples and results to my lab. If he was working with something dangerous, we need to know. We're not out of the woods with him yet; his blood chemistry will be way off. Let's get a sodium bicarbonate drip with 6 ccs of Lidocaine. Move him to the ICU and let me know immediately when the lab results return. Keep me informed of any changes in his condition," she commanded to the hospital staff in the room who immediately went about following her instructions.

The petite doctor removed the surgical cap from her head and shook out her chestnut brown hair.

Chloe felt her own heart stop and wondered idly where the epinephrine was when she needed it. She couldn't remember ever seeing anyone looking so beautiful and determined as the brunette standing in front of her. She mentally shook herself but couldn't take her eyes off her petite form. Dr. Mitchell, however, must have had much stronger self-control. She brushed past Chloe without giving any evidence that she realized that she was even there.

Chloe made her way to the door when it swung open yet again. Dr. Rose walked in and let out a sigh of relief when she saw Chloe. "There you are Dr. Beale! Admitting told me I could find out in here. I'm sorry about this, though Dr. Conrad told me you handled it like a pro."

"Well..." Chloe began, not sure what to say.

"Dr. Mitchell!" Dr. Rose exclaimed upon noticing the young brunette doctor who was headed toward the elevator.

"Dr. Rose," she replied distantly. "I didn't know you were scheduled in the ER today," Cynthia Rose responded pleasantly.

"I wasn't," Dr. Mitchell said in a clipped tone.

"When your third cardiology team was scrapped because the ER was short staffed, the efficiency and more importantly, the safety, of this hospital were severely compromised!"

Ignoring Dr. Mitchell's enraged rant, Dr. Rose continued. "Dr. Mitchell, I'd like you to meet the new pediatric cardiologist on staff at Barden."

"Nice to meet you," she said, looking past Chloe and not even directly at her.

Chloe removed the surgical cap from her head and pulled off her gloves. She tried to formulate a witty, yet warm and polite response but didn't have the opportunity.

Dr. Mitchell had already turned back toward Dr. Rose and began talking as if she weren't even there.

"How is it that in the biggest academic hospital in the city we are so short staffed in the Emergency Department that the new Peds doctor ends up leading an emergency team trying to resuscitate a patient who's gone into asystolic cardiac arrest? Aren't there standards on these things? You're just lucky that she didn't kill the guy!"

Chloe tried to defend herself, to state that she actually trained also as an emergency doctor but she had been effectively shut out of the conversation.

"As I was saying," Dr. Rose continued, apparently having failed to hear any of Dr. Mitchell's diatribe. "Dr. Mitchell, this is Dr. Chloe Beale." Chloe smiled nervously. The brunette responded with a nod and a curt smile. "Excuse me," she said, feigning politeness before turning on her heel and walking into the elevator.

* * *

"I get the feeling she doesn't like me very much," Chloe said with a smile that belied her true feelings. "Don't pay any attention to Dr. Mitchell. Lord knows I wouldn't put up with her if she wasn't one of the best damn cardiothoracic surgeons I've ever seen."

"Wait, are you telling me that that's Dr. Beca Mitchell, the cardiothoracic surgeon?"

"Mm-hmm," Cynthia Rose replied with a nod. "Do you know Beca?"

"Well, I know of her. I read about her in the recent NEJM journal on how she and a Dr. Warren Mitchell, I figured that was her husband, were working on the technology for a new, more effective replacement for the bare metal stent, but I guess I figured she'd be older."

"Well, you've got all of that right except the 'older' part, of course, and the part about a husband. Warren Mitchell is her father. He's Chief of Surgery at Barden. Beca has no time for anything other than work, and even if she did, there are rumors that she plays for the other team." Cynthia Rose said with a conspiratorial wink.

Chloe was secretly pleased to hear that, but attempted to keep her expression neutral.

"So does she always storm into the Emergency Department and declare the incompetence of the entire hospital staff?"

"It's become something of a regular occurrence, I'm afraid. But I can understand where Beca is coming from. Well, some of the time, anyway. She is an incredible surgeon and is completely dedicated to her work and her patients, but she has little patience for anyone who is going to make her life more difficult, including the hospital's administration. The ER is short staffed, and the hospital's board of directors is bemoaning the losses that Barden's Emergency Department suffered last year."

Chloe nodded. "But that's not uncommon. I thought Emergency Departments generally lost money."

"That's true, they do. But because of cutbacks at the surrounding area's hospitals, we've been picking up the slack in recent years. That's been hurting the bottom line and the university board isn't happy about it. When the board isn't happy, I can't do my job right. The ER situation was one of the main reasons we hired you, Dr. Beale. It's not everyday that you can pick up a Peds Cardiologist who's also trained as an emergency doctor."

"I guess not," Chloe replied noncommittally.

"And don't worry about Beca. There is hardly a person who's started working here since her residency that hasn't annoyed, angered, or offended the woman their first day on the job. She'll get over it. Come on, I'll show you to the pediatric floor and introduce you to the team."

Chloe entered into the elevator trailing behind Dr. Rose. She didn't know exactly why, but for some reason she already knew she was going to like Barden.


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe walked the short distance to her new apartment close to Barden University's East side campus. She took the stairs to her one bedroom apartment and unlocked the door. Her flat was still mostly undecorated and she had to side step around neatly labeled cardboard boxes that littered the hardwood floor.

She toed off her shoes and walked towards the lone couch in the center of her living room where she flopped down with a huge sigh. It had been a long day. Chloe dialed a familiar number, thankful that New York was an hour ahead, which meant that Aubrey would still be up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Bree," she replied.

"Chloe! "How's Barden?"

"It's fine... I saw my new office down at Barden today. It's much bigger than I thought it would be."

"That's great Chlo. How's the hospital? Do you like it? Have you met any interesting people?" Aubrey's questions came at her a mile a minute.

Chloe smiled at her best friend's quick-fire way of getting to her point. "Barden is, well...it's definitely smaller than UCSF, but it's cosy, and it's… well it's different, Bree."

"I don't know how you tolerate it, Chloe. Isn't it too small for you? You should have moved to New York with me. The city is amazing."

"So, what are your colleagues like?" Aubrey transitioned smoothly, trying to lighten her tone after hearing an audible sigh from Chloe.

"Well, there's Cynthia Rose. She's the hospital's Chief-of-staff."

"Really, she?"

"Yeah, I think you'd like her Bree. She's really nice, but definitely a no-nonsense kind of woman."

"So what about the rest of your day? Did anything exciting happen?"

"Actually, yeah. There was a cardiac emergency when Dr. Rose was giving me a tour. They were short staffed, so I helped out, it was great to be able to help someone again. I think the guy's going to be okay, but the weird thing is that they couldn't figure out what caused the cardiac arrest. It looked like anaphylactic shock to me, and the cardiothoracic surgeon agreed, but the guy wasn't allergic to anything. Anyway, the surgeon seemed to be convinced that the guy was exposed to something at the biomedical company he works for. I don't know. It's possible. I wasn't really thinking about it at the time. I guess I was too busy being insulted to notice."

"He insulted you?" Aubrey asked, aghast.

"Not he, Bree, she. And sort of, I guess. It's sort of complicated. Apparently, she was really mad about the ER being short staffed. She yelled at Dr. Rose too and I guess I was collateral damage. She wasn't impressed by the pediatric cardiologist who apparently thought she was a heart surgeon."

"Aca-cuse me? Did you tell her that you worked in the Emergency Department before?" Aubrey asked indignantly.

"I didn't get a chance, Bree. You wouldn't believe this woman. She's arrogant and bossy and controlling, and from the way she chewed out Cynthia Rose, fearless...and brilliant, and absolutely beautiful."

"Well. Someone sounds like she has a major crush," Aubrey said in a teasing tone.

"Stop it, Bree! I just thought she was impressive, that's all." Chloe chewed her lip.

"Anyway, it looks like whether she likes it or not, we'll be working together. She does rounds in the ER a couple days a week and since I'll be a back-up doctor on call, thanks to the lack of personnel, we're bound to run into one another."

"Well, I'm sure she'll come around when she realizes what a charmer you are."

"Very funny Bree," Chloe whined. She was certain that she could hear her friend's smirk on the other end of the line.

"Well. I can't wait to see you again."

"Are you coming to visit for Thanksgiving? I miss my best friend." Chloe's tone softened.

"Of course I am, Chlo. Work has been busy at the firm, but I am definitely coming out to see you."

"Great. Well I better start unpacking some of these boxes. I'll talk to you tomorrow Bree."

"Alright Chlo. Take care of yourself."

Chloe hung up her cell phone and sighed. It had certainly been an interesting day. Glancing around her empty apartment, she made her way to the first box lying on the living room floor to start unpacking. A few hours later, she decided it was time to shower and retire for the evening. She changed, set her cell phone alarm and rummaged to find a blanket among her bedroom boxes, before collapsing onto her bed and falling asleep.

Not far away, Dr. Beca Mitchell sat in front of her laptop in the study of her downtown apartment. The room was dark except for the light from her monitor and that provided by a dim desk lamp. She pored over the figures from the latest series of tests.

Her proposal for the Board of Directors at Barden University, the consortium of labs, hospitals, med schools, and research institutes that was funding the project, would be due in another week, but she was confident. There was no doubt in her mind that she would receive the needed funding for her research to continue.

Experimentation had proven that the device she was developing was highly successful and within a few short years, the device would be ready for clinical trials and regulatory approval.

This project would potentially bring Beca and her father wealth and prestige beyond even the most egocentric surgeon's wildest dreams, but more importantly, it would provide a safer, more natural and permanent solution to many different heart conditions. It would catapult Beca to the forefront of her profession, but mostly, it would make the lives of so many patients better.

The data analysis was not what was concerning her this evening. What was instead on her mind were the events of that afternoon. Cynthia Rose deserved to be on the receiving end of her wrath, she decided. Not directly, of course, but as a representative of the hospital administration, she needed to hear about the awful truth, that the incompetence of the administration was causing major problems in the functioning of the hospital's most vital divisions.

She had a tremendous amount of respect for Dr. Rose, but if she just simply went about her work as though nothing was wrong despite all the unbelievable decisions of the administration, nothing would ever be done to fix the problems.

She had to admit however that her comments toward the new blue-eyed Pediatric cardiologist-what was her name again? Oh yes, Dr. Beale - were a bit excessive; the poor woman was just trying to help, but what could she have known about the ins and outs of the Emergency Department?

She did have the most incredibly piercing blue eyes though and a beautiful face.

Beca snapped herself out of her thoughts. What was she thinking? She had no time to creep on a new doctor. No distractions.

They were all just lucky that nothing catastrophic had resulted from her involvement. Barden University Hospital was the finest hospital in all of Louisiana. The fact that the ED in such a hospital would be so short staffed as to have an Intensivist and a Pediatric Cardiologist leading a team of interns, first year residents and nurses in treating a cardiac arrest patient, would have been laughable had it not been so damn irresponsible of hospital.

Ignoring the nagging thought in the back of her mind that the hospital was going to hell in a hand-basket and would no doubt take out many innocent victims along the way, she ran the regression lines on the data, ran the data against the control group, and determined a much better than adequate value of statistical difference. Satisfied, she documented and saved her results as further evidence of the viability of the project and the expected benefits of the experiments.

Pleased with herself, she leaned back in her chair and stretched out lazily. Her dad would be so happy to hear about the latest results. Perhaps the additional funds that would come from the hospital's generous benefactors after the introduction of the new device that would make all of them filthy rich could be used to hire actual doctors to staff the ER.

Then again, she sighed, probably not.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe Beale arrived at Barden Hospital around six thirty that evening after a productive afternoon. She had managed to finish most of her unpacking and even had some time to squeeze in a round of shopping for her new apartment. She secretly wished that Aubrey had been around with her to help hunt for furniture – it would have made it much more fun. At least she was getting closer to feeling like she had a livable place.

Chloe made her way toward her office and lab space humming to a recent pop beat when she heard a familiar voice coming from one of the offices adjacent to hers. She paused in the hallway.

It couldn't be. It was.

Some twist of fate – she hadn't determined if it was good or bad yet, but mostly likely bad – had led to the placement of Dr. Mitchell's office a mere 30 feet away from hers.

She suddenly felt nervous and mentally chided herself. If she were going to work in such close proximity to Dr. Mitchell, she would have to learn to hold her own in her presence. It wouldn't do to turn into a simpering puddle of goo in her presence, not that she thought much of her as it was.

Ignoring Dr. Mitchell's voice (she sounded like she was talking to a man whose voice was unfamiliar to Chloe), she continued the short walk toward her own office.

Once inside, she removed her coat and set her laptop bag on the table. Just as she was about to start up her laptop, she heard a sharp knock on a door.

"Come in" Chloe called, secretly hoping it wasn't Dr. Mitchell.

Instead, a friendly male face peeked through the door. "Dr. Beale?"

"Yes?"

"Hi! You must be Dr. Beale?"

"That's right … and you are?"

"Jesse Swanson. Cardiothoracic surgery."

"My office is down the hall from yours and I thought I'd come over to say hi. I saw your name on the shift board for this evening. I didn't get the chance to meet you yesterday, but Dr. Rose said you did an amazing job in the ER yesterday" he grinned at her.

"Thanks! Well, Jesse, it's nice to meet you. Chloe couldn't help but smile back at the boyish grin he flashed, reaching out to shake his offered hand.

"So, how's it going so far? Are you adjusting to the city?" he asked.

"Pretty good. I haven't really had the chance to explore much, I just got here last week and am still trying to get my apartment set up."

"Ah." Jesse nodded understandingly.

"Well, how long before your shift?"

Chloe checked her watch. "Half an hour."

"Come on, let's grab a cup of coffee. Have you been to the cafeteria yet?"

"Nope. Haven't had the chance."

"Yeah, figures they'd leave that out on the tour." he smirked.

"Well you aren't missing much, but the stale coffee in there is at least hot which makes it better than the sludge you get in the on-call pantry."

The hospital cafeteria looked pretty much the same as the one in UCSF where Chloe had completed her residency; same crappy food, same old coffee, actually, probably the exact same old coffee.

She nursed a cup while Jesse explained to her the finer points of Barden that the administration had conveniently left out during her interview.

"This can't be right! Tell them to run it again!"

Chloe's head snapped up as she heard a familiar voice echoing loudly through the cafeteria. Her outburst had drawn not only her attention but also that of half of the doctors in the room.

Dr. Mitchell tossed a stack of papers at a hapless young lab tech running to keep up with her. The papers hit him squarely in the chest and the entire stack fluttered to the ground.

He scrambled to pick them up as she walked away.

"Right away Dr. Mitchell!" he called out, but she continued walking. For such a small sized woman, she definitely did pack a punch.

"And there goes the greatest hazard of them all," Jesse proclaimed with a chuckle.

"Huh?" Chloe replied.

"Beca Mitchell of course." Jesse noticed the look on Chloe's face.

"Don't tell me you got a thing for her, Beale. I didn't know you swung that way."

"What? No." Chloe stuttered, a flush coloring her cheeks.

"Sure, who wouldn't fantasize about a beautiful, dominating woman like that, but believe me Dr. Beale, she is nothing but trouble."

"Shot you down huh?"

"Repeatedly, my friend," Jesse stated with a grin.

"Not that I didn't try, but Beca and I are better off as friends. Plus, I'm sure you heard she bats for the other team…so I wouldn't have stood a chance in hell."

"Friends huh. What's she really like?"

"She is one arrogant, bossy, self-righteous…. Well you know. Sometimes she is too busy off saving the world, while single-handedly pissing off everyone in the hospital. But she's also one of the most loyal and passionate doctors I have ever met. And she makes a hell of a friend. You'll see."

Jesse concluded with a wink.

"I guess I'll just have to wait and see." Chloe said, sounding rather unconvinced.

Beca Mitchell stormed through the hallways of Barden, another stack of papers in hand. The results didn't make any sense. This was the lab's fault. It had to be. The data was completely ridiculous. A rhinovirus, of all things! She couldn't believe it.

She flung the door to the ER locker room wide open, preparing to slam the door behind her. Instead, she ran straight smack into another curvy and warm body.

"Dammit!" she yelled as she dropped the papers in her hand.

"I'm so sorry!" the person responded, immediately kneeling down to pick up the papers that had fallen.

Beca didn't even notice who she had slammed into until she looked up at her to hand her the papers.

"Beale!" she cried out, as if she were her long lost best friend.

"Dr. Mitchell?" Chloe replied, perplexed and unsure what brought on this sudden happiness to see her there.

Beca placed a hand on her forearm, and Chloe tried hard to ignore the way her skin tingled at her touch.

"Dr. Beale, you are just the person I've been looking for!" she declared happily.

"You've been looking for me, Dr. Mitchell?" Chloe asked, incredulous.

"Of course!" Beca shoved the stack of papers at her before turning on her heel and walking out the door.

"Take a look at the report. Does the name of the patient mean anything to you?"

Chloe looked down at the patient's name on the top of the blood test report: Johnson, Mark. R.

"Should it?" she asked, looking at the test results in her hand, thoroughly confused.

She ran out of the locker room following the petite brunette.

"I don't understand," she called after her retreating figure.

Beca turned in the hallway and paused for a moment and gave her a pointed look, making it perfectly clear that that she was expected to drop everything and catch up with her if she wanted any answers.

"This is just a result from a blood test. What do you want me to do with it?"

"He's your cardiac arrest patient from yesterday. You were the doctor that treated him."

"And?" Chloe jogged a few paces to catch up with her.

"And, what do you notice about the results?"

"Nothing."

"Precisely!"

"Sorry, I'm not quite sure I understand."

Beca released an exasperated sign but continued walking.

"The lab tests are clean. No known allergens, no drugs, nothing. We ran a series of tests on him this morning and couldn't find a damn thing this guy is allergic to. And yet, somehow he ended up in the Emergency Room yesterday morning flatlining with cardiac arrest after going into anaphylactic shock, while according to the lab results this guy has nothing but a common cold. Can you explain that, Dr. Beale?"

Chloe kept pace with her as she quickly glanced over the blood test results. The patient definitely showed symptoms of a hyperallergic reaction but Dr. Mitchell was right. There were no known allergens in his bloodstream and the skin tests showed no know allergies.

"No, frankly I can't, but I can order a more thorough screening to be done on the blood sample if you want me to send it to Immunology."

Beca stopped suddenly.

"Great. Let's send it up there now."

"Don't bother, it'll keep till morning." Chloe continued walking.

"What?"

"There's probably no one in the lab right now, and you and I are both due in the ER in about 5 minutes. The blood test can wait till the morning. I promise it will be the first thing I do when I get in tomorrow."

Beca let out another exasperated sigh and ran to catch up with Chloe, who simply continued walking towards the Emergency Department, paying her shorter companion little mind.

"That man may have been exposed to dangerous substances down in Biotex. Do you know what kind of defense department contracts those guys have?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll explain it to me."

"Listen Beale, this may be some colossal joke to you – but Biotex has been in the business of manufacturing more and more efficient lethal viruses for decades. They are trying to help create tools to destroy entire populations, and I think this man was exposed to that."

"Dr. Mitchell, we work in a University Hospital that is miles away from D.C. I'm pretty sure the government sort of gave up on the idea of chlorine and anthrax as weapons a few decades ago. Biotex isn't full of crackpot little scientists developing the most exciting ways to kill the world, and I'm not quite ready to rule out the possibility that there was a slight chance someone in the lab screwed up the tests and the results failed to show that he had a hypersensitive allergy to peanuts."

"You would believe that sort of a thing, wouldn't you?"

Chloe stopped walking abruptly.

"Excuse me? You don't know me, Dr. Mitchell," she huffed.

"How would you know what I would and would not believe?"

"Well, you look like the trusting type," Beca said with a shrug.

"If the government tells you no more biochem weapons, you'd believe them. You would ignore the fact that while we aren't throwing mustard gas grenades on the Western Front anymore, we still continue to spend billions of defense dollars developing dangerous biochemical agents for 'research purposes'. I researched. Biotex is a legally contracted firm able to conduct biochem research for the U.S. military."

"If that man was exposed to something at BioTex that caused him to almost be killed, I'm going to find out, and I will do it with or without your help, Dr. Beale."

Beca brushed past her and continued brisk walking down the hallway, leaving Chloe behind.

Chloe stood there for a moment and watched her retreating form. She shook her head slightly, not quite sure what to make of the conversation that she had just been dragged through. She didn't have time for this.

She jogged back to the locker room and left the test results there, then ran back to the ER just in time to hear the sirens of an incoming ambulance.


	4. Chapter 4

Within half an hour of Chloe's arrival at the office the next morning, a blood sample along with a note arrived at her desk.

"Doesn't that woman ever sleep?" she wondered idly.

She read the note: Dr. Beale, here is the Johnson blood sample. Let me know what you find out ASAP. - Dr. Mitchell

Chloe sighed and headed for the clinical labs to order the battery of tests.

A few eager young grad students were already busy at work when she got to the labs. She was amazed by their dedication despite the mundane nature of the work.

The results were returned within a few hours. Chloe read the analysis and was puzzled by the results. She wasn't sure if she had found something that the initial tests had missed, but she did notice something that was troubling her.

Grabbing her white coat off the hook, she headed for the Immunology department in the East Wing.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Beca spent a less than comfortable evening on a cot in the ER room. A cardiac patient came in at the end of her shift and kept her in the ER longer than expected since she had to stabilize the patient.

Feeling that she was in no condition to drive home, she opted instead to crash in the locker room. She woke up a few hours later, still tired and sore, but at least in a conscious enough state to drive herself home.

Before she left Barden, she made it a point to go to her office and had the blood work sent to Dr. Beale.

She had a consultation that evening with a young cardiac patient who was scheduled for an operation the next week, but she needed to get a few more hours of sleep before returning to Barden. She drove home and went straight to bed after the second consecutive sleepless night.

Beca returned to her office that afternoon and immediately poured herself a cup of coffee. She checked her voice mail and discovered an urgent message from Dr. Beale.

She bolted from her chair, planting the coffee cup on her desk. The sudden movement caused some of the cup's contents to splash out onto her hand and onto a stack of papers on her desk.

"Dammit!" she hissed.

She wiped dry the now brown pieces of paper and tried to wipe the hot, offending liquid off her hand. She abandoned the java-stained mess after a few moments and sprinted the short distance to Dr. Beale's office.

In typical Beca fashion, she burst through the door without even knocking and found Dr. Beale deep in conversation with a plump blonde woman, whom she vaguely recognized as the geneticist on staff in Dr. Irving's lab.

"What have you got?" she asked without so much as a greeting.

"Good afternoon to you too Dr. Mitchell," Chloe said with a wry grin.

"Let me introduce you to Amy, the geneticist on Dr. Irving's staff."

"Fat Amy." the blonde lady replied with a heavy Australian accent and an outstretched hand.

"You call yourself, Fat Amy?" Beca asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, so twig bitches like you both won't behind my back." Fat Amy grinned and accepted Beca's handshake.

"Well, for one thing, Mark Johnson didn't have a cold." Chloe interjected.

She handed Beca a copy of the latest test results.

"Excuse me?"

"The rhinovirus in his bloodstream was dead."

"Which means?"

"Well, it means any number of things really, but Amy and I both believe that the rhinovirus in Mr. Johnson's bloodstream was probably there as a result of a gene therapy experiment."

"It's possible that he was exposed accidentally to it at work given that BioTex is on the cutting edge of genetic science and they currently do extensive research on gene therapy in their lab downtown. I have a friend who works there" Amy chimed in.

"So his blood was clean except for exceptionally high levels of histamines and Immunoglobulin E, indicative of a severe allergic reaction, and a dead cold virus. Where does this leave us?"

"We haven't ruled out the rhinovirus as the cause of the allergic reaction. It seemed that the virus's surface proteins and DNA had been altered. We have to run further tests on it, but it is possible that there is something about the virus that triggered this reaction." Chloe responded.

"Has the patient mentioned anything about what he was doing at work that day?"

"No, apparently he doesn't remember a thing. He woke up in the ICU and had no recollection of anything that happened that day."

Beca started flipping through the test report when she felt Chloe's hand upon her wrist.

"What is it?"

Chloe turned her wrist and looked at the large red splotch on the back of her hand.

"You burned your hand," she said, getting out of her chair.

"It's nothing," Beca mumbled as she pulled her arm away.

Ignoring her comment, Chloe walked to the sink and wet a clean cloth. She wrung the excess cold water out of it and moved to place it against Beca's hand.

"I said it's nothing," she said irritably.

Chloe took her hand in hers and with the other, gently placed the cloth against the burn.

She saw Beca flinch slightly and she pretended not to notice.

"Just hold it there for a few minutes." She smiled warmly before realizing that she was still holding her hand with both of hers, quickly letting go.

"Thank you Dr. Beale," Beca mumbled.

"Well mates, we can get the test results back tomorrow evening," Amy broke the silence sensing the slight awkwardness between the pair. "Then we'll know how to proceed."

"Good," Beca replied.

"Thank you, Dr. Beale, Amy," she said graciously.

"Of course Dr. Mitchell," Chloe replied with a warm yet somehow detached manner so common among doctors.

Beca turned and walked out of the office, without the same disturbance that she had upon entering the room. Nevertheless, her exit caused a certain change in the room, as if the energy level had suddenly dropped.

Something almost tangible disappeared in her absence. Chloe wasn't sure what it was, but she knew that she already missed it.

She realized that the look upon her face probably mirrored that of a lovesick teenager, and she did her best to replace it with a more serious one.

Fat Amy excused herself, a tiny smile playing upon the corners of her mouth, and promised to have the test results back the following evening.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Chloe escaped the day relatively unscathed and retreated back home after her Peds shift was done.

She was in her apartment starting to cook dinner when she heard the phone ring. It had been a long day, and Chloe didn't want to answer it, letting it ring until the machine picked it up.

'Hi, you've reached Chloe Beale, I'm not able to take your call right now, but if you leave a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If it's urgent, please page me at 650-1589. Thanks and have a great day … beep'

"Beale."

It was _her_.

"Cute message. Anyway, the lab analysis came back this afternoon. By the way, where were you today? In any event, you should see this. Give me a call whenever you get it. And don't wait till tomorrow, call whenever -"

Chloe tried to ignore it, but couldn't.

"Dr. Mitchell?"

"Oh. Dr. Beale, you're home. Great! I mean, the lab results came back and …"

"I heard."

"Oh, right. Well it turns out that you and Amy were right. The rhinovirus, it caused the allergic reaction. Some of its surface proteins were altered and apparently it triggered the immune response."

"So, how are we going to proceed from here?" Chloe asked.

"Well, we might have to call the police. Work related injuries and illnesses have to be documented and filed, blah blah blah, and they'll proceed with an investigation. But…"

"But?"

"But, chances are that the police will discover nothing, call it a simple accident and declare the case closed, and we'll never know what really happened."

"Why do I not like where this conversation is going?"

"However," Beca continued, pretending not to have heard her. " I have a friend who works at The Advocate. I'll tell him what's going on and we'll see if he can help blow the lid off this operation."

Chloe let out an audible sigh.

"Can we discuss this in the morning at work?" she pleaded.

"Certainly, of course. Um… are you alright, Dr. Beale?"

"I'm fine." Chloe's tone softened.

"Are you sure? Because you don't sound like it… I mean you sound a little unwell…"

"I'm fine, just tired really, but thanks for asking."

The corners of Chloe's mouth twitched upward in a tiny smile. She was pleasantly surprised by Dr. Mitchell's sudden concern.

"Well alright then. Goodnight Dr. Beale."

"Goodnight Dr. Mitchell."


	5. Chapter 5

Beca arrived at her office early the next morning. She and Jesse had a consultation with a young couple at nine. The couple's young son suffered from a severe congenital heart defect, and while she wasn't working in pediatric cardiology, Jesse had talked her into working with him on this case.

While surgery to correct the condition had become safer and more commonplace, she knew the parents were going to be frightened and nervous and that she was going to have to do her best to explain what was going on to a scared little boy.

Consultations with adults were one thing. Trying to explain something like this to a kid was something else entirely. It wasn't her forte (she preferred patients when they were less communicative) so she was going to leave Jesse to do most of the talking in the consultation.

The surgery was scheduled for next Wednesday, and little Ryan would be admitted the day before.

Two hours later, Beca left Jesse's consultation room, glad she was able to help these people, but wishing that she could do something to lessen their concern.

She didn't know what it was like to have a child that was so ill, but she could imagine how devastating it could be.

She mentally shook herself and turned her thoughts to figuring out what exactly had happened to Mr. Johnson in Biotex.

She returned to her office and picked up the phone to call the police officer she was to contact about faxing in the results of his lab tests for their records.

The police officer assured her that an investigator had been assigned to the case.

She then faxed the information on to Biotex and informed them of the cause of Mr. Johnson's condition.

The executive she spoke with seemed eager to cooperate and expressed concern about Mr. Johnson's condition. She assured him that he would be fine and informed him that the police would be investigating the matter.

A faint rumbling sound reminded her that it was well past lunchtime by now and she had not eaten all day. The thought of cafeteria food caused her stomach to churn unpleasantly, so she called her father to see if he was free for lunch. Unfortunately, he was in a case.

She drummed her knuckles on the wooden surface of her desk, wondering who else she could call. A half smile crept upon her lips.

She rose from her desk and left her office.

"Beale," she called from her doorway.

"Huh?" Chloe looked up from the papers at the sound of her name being called.

"Come on, let's get something to eat," she replied nonchalantly as if they had been eating lunch together every day for years.

Chloe tried to form a coherent response, but the shock of Dr. Beca Mitchell asking her out to lunch was too great.

Her second response mirrored that of her first.

"Huh?"

"It's after one, and you haven't had lunch yet, have you?"

"Well, no I guess not…"

"Then let's go," Beca replied impatiently. "You do eat right?"

"What?"

"Oh yeah, of course, sure. Uh, where are we going?" Chloe asked as she stood up and grabbed her coat.

"Out." Beca grinned.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\

They visited a small café not too far from the hospital that was frequented by many of the hospital's doctors and staff.

When small talk about their research projects and clinical cases waned, Beca chanced to bring up the subject of Mark Johnson's case.

"I called the police department and Biotex this morning," she said casually.

"Oh?"

"Yeah an investigation into the lab is being started. Biotex is apparently going to cooperate fully."

"That's great."

"I'm not so sure."

"How did I know you were going to say that?" Chloe asked rhetorically.

"Anyway." Beca glared at Chloe, but only briefly.

"I want to call my friend Luke down at The Advocate, and let him know what is going on. He's an investigative journalist down there and he may be able to help us dig into the real story."

"If the government really is trying to find new ways to kill people with the common cold, we have to figure out how to stop them."

"Wait just a second Dr. Mitchell. We don't know this for sure. For all we know, what happened to Mark could really have been an accident."

"Yeah sure. Tell that to the Tuskegee experiment victims Dr. Beale."

Chloe made no attempt to respond and instead concentrated on her sandwich.

"So it's settled then. I'm calling Luke, and don't worry, he's not going to run this without proof."

Chloe figured it was easier to acquiesce to her plans to argue further and the two of them finished lunch in peace, exchanging small talk.

When she returned to the office, Chloe responded to a voicemail from Fat Amy. They had taken another blood sample from Mark Johnson and this one had turned up completely clean, thank God.

The entire remaining sample from the initial blood test had been transferred to a more secure biohazard lab where extensive testing could be performed on the virus particles.

She passed the information on to Dr. Mitchell's voicemail service and tried to focus on her clinical duties outside of the Johnson case.


	6. Chapter 6

Beca woke up bursting with enthusiasm Monday morning. She reviewed her notes briefly, but she knew exactly what she was going to say today for the Board presentation.

It was with an air of confidence that she entered her meeting with the hospital administration. She described the nature of her work and the significant progress that had been made in the last quarter.

No one could have predicted results as good as the one she provided. Renewed funding at the requested amounts was most certainly a guarantee.

Upon running into Dr. Beale in the hallway, she told her that her presentation had gone over well and that she hoped her meeting with the administration would go as smoothly.

Dr. Beale congratulated her and she graciously accepted her kind words.

Her plans to celebrate her successful meeting were temporarily postponed by the arrival of the investigator on the Johnson case. Gorodsky was a mildly irritating fellow but he was sharper than most cops and seemed like a straightforward guy, so Beca tolerated his questions with an exceptional amount of patience, for her, anyway.

After what seemed like an endless number of questions, Inspector Gorodsky left and Beca called her father to invite him out to dinner. It had been a big day for their little project, and she was buying.

Tuesday passed in an utter blur. She had that balloon angioplasty case in the morning, followed by a meeting with her father to discuss the next round of clinical tests for their device before darting off to spend an afternoon on call in the ER.

She ended up pulling an extra shift thanks in no part to the chronic shortage of doctors, and returned home weary and exhausted.

She felt a twinge of disappointment that she didn't get the chance to see Dr. Beale that day and so she didn't get the opportunity to ask her how her meeting had gone. She didn't want to admit it but she did miss seeing Dr. Beale. For some reason being around the redheaded doctor made her feel happy.

'Oh well,' she thought as she stifled a yawn. She would most certainly see her tomorrow and could ask her then.

She prepared for bed and fell immediately into a deep sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

She arrived at work on Wednesday in a decidedly good mood. She had taken the liberty of getting into the office a little later that morning. After pulling double duty in the ER the night before, she indulged herself with an extra hour of sleep before coming into work.

"There's an Inspector Gorodsky here to see you Dr. Mitchell", Rita, the receptionist informed her as soon as she entered her office.

"Thank you, Rita," she replied.

She wondered what sort of news the Inspector had given that it was only a day after the interview.

She entered her private office where Inspector Gorodsky was waiting for her. He rose from his seat as she entered the room.

"Good morning Inspector," she greeted him politely.

"Dr. Mitchell," he replied.

"I hope you haven't been waiting too long," she said as she dropped her briefcase on her desk and moved aside the new mail.

"No, it's quite all right. Your receptionist told me you were in the Emergency Room the whole night."

Beca nodded.

"Now tell me, Inspector, what brings you back so soon?"

"Well, I'm here to let you know that we have declared the Biotex case close."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, we talked to Mark Johnson and he told us that the was in fact working with genetically engineered viruses in a Level 2 biohazard laboratory. He said it was his own fault that he was incautious and that resulted in his inadvertent exposure to the virus."

"That's impossible!" Beca exclaimed exasperatedly. "I talked to Mr. Johnson on Wednesday and he had absolutely no recollection whatsoever of the events that transpired that morning. He couldn't possibly have told you what happened to him before he collapsed because he had no memory of it!"

"Well Dr. Mitchell, Biotex has agreed to pay for all of Mr. Johnson's medical bills," he continued. "They've cooperated fully with our investigation. All of Biotex labs are up to par with OSHA standards and in fact exceed most safety standards. Even Johnson himself has said he will not press charges against his employers."

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Beca shouted. "Forgive me for pointing the obvious Inspector, but can't you see that they are intentionally hiding the truth from you?"

"Dr. Mitchell, I appreciate your concern about this case, but there is nothing more that can be done."

"I don't think you do, Inspector. A man nearly died because of what he was exposed to at his workplace. What he was exposed to is a highly dangerous virus, that if introduced into the atmosphere could kill a significant number of people so fast that no one would know what hit them."

"Dr. Mitchell, what he was exposed to was a mistake. Biotex was not trying to create a biological weapon to attack innocent people. The experiment that Mr. Johnson was involved in was related to a gene therapy treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Not an attempt to bring about Armageddon. It just so happened that the virus he was working on was significantly altered by mistake, which caused him to go into anaphylactic shock. Since then…"

"You can't possibly believe that Inspector!" Beca cried. "That virus was designed to do nothing but kill! It did not have any of the proper genes to correct Alzheimers and you know it."

"Since then," the Inspector continued as his voice rose significantly louder above Beca's, "Biotex has destroyed the entire batch of the virus which has set their research back months at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to them to prevent such an accident from occurring. This company has done everything we have asked of them and more."

"Fine, Inspector. I understand. You're just doing _your _job to protect the citizens of this country."

"Why thank you, Dr. Mitchell," he replied. The hint of sarcasm in his voice was easily detected.

He stood up and left her office. 'Man, that woman can be a royal pain in the ass,' he thought.

At least in her own warped way, she only wanted to make sure that justice was served. He cringed inwardly at the thought of working against Dr. Mitchell versus working with her.

Beca let out an exasperated sigh as soon as he left her office. 'That man is such an idiot for believing what was clearly a lame explanation,' she thought.

She was most certainly not convinced by Biotex's new nice guy attitude. She picked up the phone and dialed a familiar sequence of numbers.

"Luke Rodgers here," a voice responded after the second ring.

"Luke? It's Beca."

"Becs? How have you been? I haven't seen you in ages dude."

"I know, Luke. We'll have to find time to have lunch to catch up. But that' s not the real reason why I'm calling."

"I figured as much," Luke said with a chuckle.

"Inspector Gorodsky came by today. They closed the Johnson case."

"So I heard. My contact at the BRPD told me the same thing."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do Becs," Luke replied.

"But Luke, you and I know that there's more to this case than what the cops know! There's something here, and I'm sure you'll find the story behind it."

"Come on, you have to help me out! You help me prove that Biotex knowingly endangered lives in order to create these horrible weapons, I'll help you get the story. It's a win-win situation."

"Becs, there is nothing I would like more than to help you out. But I just can't do that. I cannot afford to investigate a case where we've got nothing but a little bit of circumstantial evidence and our only chances of proving our case are slim to none. I can't publish without hard facts and we don't have any. I believe you, Beca, really I do, and I trust your instincts, but you are going up against a powerful adversary. If you're wrong, it'll ruin you, and you'll be taking this paper down with you. And even if you're right, you've got to be able to prove it. Their word is as good as yours, and without proof you've got nothing except a good excuse for Biotex's legal sharks to take a bite out of you and The Advocate."

"Luke, if we don't do anything, Biotex is going to get away with this and they'll keep doing it until they actually kill someone, and even then I can't guarantee that it will be just one scientist in a lab. What happened to the code of reporting the truth at all costs?"

"Becs, I'd like to tell you that as a reporter I fight the good fight, that I try my best to use my position to right wrongs and battle the injustice in the world. But sometimes you just have to know when to back down. You can't always pick on the bully if you want to live to fight the fights that you can honestly win."

"Well Luke, if that's the way you think, then I have nothing more to say to you."

"Now hold on a minute, Becs… Beca?"

The line went dead.

Beca slammed the phone down in frustration. She wanted to scream out loud. Instead, she settled for pounding her fist on the desk and immediately regretted it.

There was a soft knocking at her door.

"Who is it?" she barked.

"Dr. Mitchell?", a young intern asked timdly.

"Yes?" she snapped.

"Dr. Mitchell this came for you, it's from Admin" he said warily as he crossed her office to hand her the envelope.

"Thanks," she mumbled as she took the envelope. The intern nodded quickly and made a hasty retreat out of her office, sensing her bad mood.

Beca examined the substantial package she had been handed. It was the administration's decision on the research budget for the upcoming quarter. She tore into it quickly and tossed aside the irrelevant information on last quarter's P&L. She finally found the Board's decision regarding her research project.

'Well, hopefully something good will come of today,' she thought to herself as she began to read through the document.

Wait a minute. This couldn't be right. The numbers didn't add up at all. Beca pulled out a calculator from her desk drawer to recheck her math. Her math was fine, it was the numbers that made absolutely no sense.

This couldn't be. The budget apportioned to the project was more than twenty percent less than what she had requested for in her proposal. She had calculated the budget perfectly, and there was no way she could be able to complete her research with the twenty percent reduction. There had to be some kind of a mistake.

Picking up her phone, she punched the button for Dr. Rose's office.

"Dr. Rose's office," the pleasant voice of a receptionist responded.

"Yes, hi, this is Dr. Mitchell. I need to speak with Dr. Rose immediately."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Rose is busy at the moment. May I take a message?"

"No. This is urgent. Please put me through to Dr. Rose." Beca's words were terse and almost threatening.

"Right away, Dr. Mitchell."

"Dr. Rose speaking"

"Dr. Rose, its me."

"Dr. Mitchell, I am a tad caught up right now, if I could just call you back -,"

"Dr. Rose, this can't wait. There seems to have been an error in the budget allocation for my research project."

"There's no mistake, Dr. Mitchell. The hospital was forced to make the cuts. I'm afraid this is the best we can do."

"But it's a full twenty percent lower than what I had asked for! You very well know I can't run my lab on anything less than what I had last quarter."

"Well, you're going to have to find a way, Dr. Mitchell, because the hospital can't afford it. You know that if it were up to me, I wouldn't have cut your funding."

"Unfortunately, you know who runs this medical center and the hospital and I'm afraid it's neither you nor I, Dr. Mitchell so we are both going to have to learn to get used to it."

"Now, I'm really sorry Dr. Mitchell but I have to get back to my patient."

Beca slammed the phone down even before she heard the 'Goodbye'.

She grabbed her purse and stormed out of the office. Much later, she found herself in the cafeteria nursing a cup of what passed for very poor coffee.

She saw Dr. Beale enter the cafeteria and immediately lowered her head hoping she wouldn't notice her.

Of course she did.

'Great,' she thought. 'She'll probably want to talk.'

Chloe walked over to her table with a cup of coffee in her hand. " I saw the budget for the quarter," she said softly.

"I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, well it happens," Beca sniped.

"Listen, if there is any way I can help… you know, if you need lab space or anything like that, please, let me know."

"Oh sure, Beale. Get all magnanimous on me." Beca regretted the words immediately as soon as they left her mouth, but it was too late.

Having no intention or desire to apologize, she had no choice but to continue.

"I mean, it is the honorable thing to do. When the pie gets divided between more people, it's always typical for the winner to offer a little to those who got cheated out of their share."

"Dr. Mitchell, I'm sorry if your project suffered because of the new budget, but I refuse to apologize for being hired or for my own research. It's not my fault that your funding was reduced."

"Now, if you'll excuse me," Chloe stood up, a mirthless expression on her face, before walking away from the table.

Beca placed her hands in her head and let out a long labored sigh. When had everything started to go so impossibly wrong?

Why was it that when everything was just starting to seem like it was going all right that something would happen to screw it all up?

True. She shouldn't have been so curt with Dr. Beale, but considering how the entire world seemed like it had a personal vendetta against her, she wasn't about to apologize for her behavior. She got up of her seat and tossed out her cup of now cold coffee.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for all the reviews. It's my first time writing a fic that's longer than a vignette (without a Beta) so any errors in plot or spelling are my own.

This chapter starts to develop the BeChloe's relationship and reveals a different side of Beca.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Intending to return to her office, she instead found herself near the children's ward of the ICU. She heard the voices of Ryan's parents and Jesse as she was walking by.

She paused without really knowing why and listened as they completed the admittance procedures. Jess started going over with them the last minute explanations of the procedure the next day.

Beca stayed out of sight and looked around the different rooms in the ward before finally finding the little boy in one of the playrooms.

He was a dark haired boy with big brown eyes, dressed in Iron Man pajamas. He was sitting at a playtable, coloring with a worn out red crayon.

Beca sat down in the too small chair next to him. It was uncomfortable but that was the only thing available.

"Hi, Ryan," she said softly.

The little boy continued to color, and asked without looking up, "Why am I sick, Doctor?"

Somehow kids always knew how to ask the hardest questions that had no easy answers. She was never really good at this. She looked around the room as if the appropriate response would somehow materialize and finally settled on the truth.

"I don't know, Sweetie."

Ryan continued coloring but asked, "Am I going to get better?"

"Oh yes, you're going to be just fine," she said with a smile, thankful for a question that she could answer.

"We may not know why you're sick Ryan, but we do know how to make you better."

"Is it going to hurt?" he asked in a small voice.

He was now scribbling on the paper, pressing down on the hapless crayon. She sighed as she fumbled for the right words.

Being in a hospital was scary enough, especially when you were too little to really understand what was going on. She didn't want to frighten him anymore, but she wasn't going to lie to him either.

Beca strung her response together carefully.

"No, it won't hurt. Dr. Swanson and I are going to give you some medicine tomorrow morning and it will make you sleepy. When you wake up, it'll be all over. You are going to feel a little funny for a while and will have to stay in bed for a week or so, but after that, you'll get to run around and play"

"Just like the other kids?"

"Just like the other kids." she nodded encouragingly.

"I'm scared, Dr. Mitchell," he said.

"Everybody gets scared sometimes."

"Even you?"

"Even me."

"But you're a grownup. Grownups aren't 'sposed to get scared."

"Sure they are," she said with a slight smile.

"Even us grownups get scared sometimes."

"So what do you do when you get scared?"

Beca sighed inwardly. 'Well, usually I handle it all wrong, get angry and push other people away,' she thought, thinking back to her encounter with Dr. Beale. But she couldn't say that.

"Well," she started.

"Sometimes, Ryan, it's easier to be brave when you have someone with you to be brave together with you."

"Like a friend?"

"Mm hmm." She nodded slowly.

"Will you be brave with me tomorrow, Dr. Mitchell?" he looked up at her for the first time since she entered the room.

His eyes were wide with hope.

"Of course I will Ryan. Tomorrow the both of us will be brave together."

She stayed in the playroom with Ryan a little longer, coloring alongside him.

Beca left the hospital that afternoon in a considerably better mood. The little boy who was trying so hard to be brave had put things in perspective and lifted her spirits.

\\\\\\\\\\\

The next morning she arrived at the hospital an hour earlier than necessary so that she could stop by to see Ryan and his parents before the operation.

She entered his room and saw the tiny boy lying on a large hospital bed with an IV needle in his left hand. His parents were standing beside him, his mother holding his free hand in both of hers.

Ryan had a serious expression on his face, but smiled slightly when he saw her.

"How are you feeling, Ryan?" she asked.

"I'm okay, Dr. Mitchell," he said slowly.

"Great. Nurse White is going to come and give you some medicine soon. It'll help you go to sleep and when you wake up, you'll be back in this room and your mom and dad will be here. You'll feel a little dizzy when you get up and it might be hard to talk, but you're going to get better, Ryan."

"Are you going to be with me the whole time?" Ryan asked.

"I'll be with you the whole time, Ryan."

"Thank you, Dr. Mitchell."

Beca smiled warmly at him. "You're welcome, Sweetie."

She left his room to change and scrub in for the operation. The operation went even better than expected. The surgical team led by Jesse and Beca did a superb job of repairing Ryan's septum.

When Ryan woke up that evening, Beca made it a point to be there with his parents. She and Jesse had informed the young couple of the success of the operation, and relieve, the four of them waited for the anesthesia to wear off. The little boy fell back to sleep shortly after waking and slept through the night.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Chloe didn't see Dr. Mitchell at all that day, or the next morning for that matter. She found out from Fat Amy when they had lunch that she had been in surgery with Dr. Swanson for most of the previous day.

She looked for Beca again on Thursday afternoon but she wasn't in her office so she left a message on her voicemail. There was no doubt that she was angry at the way that she had been treated, but she was also concerned about Dr. Mitchell and didn't want to leave things the way they were after their argument on Tuesday.

She had received Inspector Gorodsky's message the previous evening and was sure that the outcome of the Johnson case had contributed to Dr. Mitchell's bad mood that day.

Frustrated, she sat in her office that evening, getting very little accomplished. She got up and headed for the cafeteria.

As she was walking past the children's wing of the ICU, she heard a familiar voice. It was Dr. Mitchell. Chloe quietly paused outside the half open door and tuned in to what she was saying.

"You did very well yesterday, Ryan," she heard Dr. Mitchell say.

Chloe peeked in through the crack in the door to the room. She saw Dr. Mitchell sitting beside a small brown haired boy who was dwarfed by the large hospital bed he was lying on, hooked up to several machines and an IV drip.

Dr. Mitchell gently stroked the boy's hair. "You were very brave," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Thank you for being brave with me, Dr. Mitchell, the boy whispered quietly.

"Shhh," she whispered. "Get some rest, Ryan. I'll see you in the morning."

Chloe had to mentally shake herself and pick her jaw up off the floor. Was this the same Dr. Beca Mitchell who had exploded at her and half of the hospital staff on a constant basis?

Was this the same beautiful and stubborn crusading woman who would take out anyone in her path in order to fight for what she believed in, and be the best damn surgeon in Barden?

Yes, it was the same woman, the same passion, exactly the same indomitable spirit. She had just never seen this side of her before.

Chloe wondered silently if many people ever had. She retreated quickly from the ICU room before Dr. Mitchell could see her.

They could talk later.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Chloe somehow ended up with double duty in the ER on Sunday, working both the morning and evening shifts.

After a long and tiring evening shift, she crashed in the small lounge adjacent to the locker room on one of the cots. It wasn't one of the most comfortable sleeping arrangements but she was too tired to drive herself home.

She had just begun to drift off into dreamland when she heard the door open. Someone entered the room and she immediately heard the soft sounds of crying.

She opened her eyes to see who it was, and what she saw broke her heart. She sat up swiftly. Beca was startled when she heard someone getting up from the cot.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize anyone was in here." She wiped at her eyes and reached for the doorknob, turning to leave the room.

"No," Chloe called out.

Beca froze upon hearing her words.

"It's all right." She stood up and walked over to her. "It's all right," she repeated.

"Dr. Beale?" she whispered.

"Yes, it's me," she replied quietly.

In the darkened room, Chloe could see Beca's posture stiffen. She reached again for the door, her hand trembling as she grasped the cold metal knob.

"Dr. Mitchell, what's wrong? Please, tell me what's wrong."

Beca shook her head.

"I can't," she whispered.

Chloe placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She felt her flinch slightly as she reined in her emotions.

Beca shuddered as a ragged sob escaped her lips. Chloe's arms were instantly around her, holding her close. The sounds of her crying subsided as she buried her face against her shoulder.

Chloe slid her arms around her waist and coaxed her into walking with her to the cot where she helped her sit down. As soon as she did, she buried her face in her shoulder again and she encircled her in a protective embrace.

After a few minutes, the sobs abated. Her breathing was slower and more even. Beca lifted her head to look up at her.

The expression on her face tugged at her heartstrings. Her piercing dark blue eyes were red from crying and still shone with a layer of unshed tears.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Chloe replied softly.

She could feel how tense Dr. Mitchell was. Uncertain whether her gesture of caring would be welcome, he rubbed her hand up and down her back, hoping that a soothing touch would help her relax.

She felt her body stiffen at first, but her rigid posture soon gave way to her gentle touches.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.

"No, I can't. I … I can't do this," Beca replied, her voice breaking.

"It's all right," she whispered softly.

Silence reigned between them for several long minutes.

"I couldn't save him…" she gasped finally.

"They brought a boy into the ER. He had been playing basketball and his heart just stopped. I couldn't save him."

Chloe hugged her tighter against her body.

"It never gets easier does it," Beca whispered.

"Losing a patient, a child. Having to look into his parents eyes and tell them he's gone. I don't know why but it never gets any easier." The last sentence came out in a rushed sob as her body shuddered again.

"Because it shouldn't," Chloe replied softly.

"Because you care. And no, it doesn't. Because once it stops hurting, once you no longer feel anything for these people, then you have no business being a doctor."

She allowed Beca to tuck her head under her chin and held her close to her chest, cradling the back of her head.

Beca spoke softly. "When I was a third year med student, we started making rounds at Barden County Hospital with a brilliant cardiologist named Dr. Brinton. He was the toughest professor at Barden U. and I worked so hard all term to have the highest grades in his class. One day, when we were going for rounds with Dr. Brinton, they brought in a little girl into the ER. She had been in a car accident and they did everything they could for her but it wasn't enough. She died that day in the Emergency Room…" Beca's voice was low and thick with emotion.

"I still remember seeing them wheel her in, and then hearing the ECG flatline from the hallway. I remember when the doctor went out to tell her parents, I remember the expression on her mother's face and her sobs. The next thing I knew, I was sitting in the hallway crying. Dr. Brinton came up to me and told me this was exactly why the female psyche was _all wrong_ for medicine."

"He said that if a doctor couldn't distance himself from the pain, then he would become a victim of his emotions and innocent people would suffer because of his own stupidity. He told me that empathy in medicine was a poison and that I would never amount to anything as a doctor if I couldn't keep a handle over my feelings."

Chloe stifled a gasp. "That's a horrible thing to say," she whispered, shocked at the unimaginable words of a cold and arrogant man that had obviously affected Dr. Mitchell terribly.

"You have to know that it's not true. You are an incredible doctor!" she said.

"Am I really though?" Beca looked at her like a person who no longer even knew who she was anymore.

"How can you ask that? Of course you are. You approach your work with such passion and you're fearless. You are a wonderful doctor because you care."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be." Chloe replied softly.

"No, I've been so mean to you ever since you started here. What kind of person am I? No don't answer that. I'm a terrible person, and you've been so kind to me, I don't even know why. I don't deserve your sympathy."

"Shhh," Chloe whispered.

"You're not a terrible person. You've just had a couple of bad days that's all. You are a brilliant and dedicated doctor and in the time that I've known you, you've set out to right just about every wrong known to man or God, and I admire you for that."

Beca stared up at her again with those dark blue eyes and it made her heart do a somersault.

"Chloe, thank you," she whispered.

Her eyes grew wide. She'd just called her Chloe, not Dr. Beale, or just plain 'Beale', but Chloe. She'd never done that before and the moment was not lost on her.

She looked down at Beca's face, the exhaustion clear in her expression. Her eyelids were heavy and began to droop. She finally lost the battle with gravity and was soon asleep.

Chloe tried to get up so that she could lie down on the cot, but she wouldn't release her grip on her scrubs. She wouldn't be able to sleep comfortably sitting up like this.

Sighing, she managed to reposition herself so that both of them were lying on the cot. Beca cuddled up to her with her head on her chest. She wrapped her arm around her in a protective embrace and watched her while she slept.

Two hours passed before Chloe heard a soft voice call out to her. "Chloe?"

"Hmm?" she replied, surprised she was already awake. It was almost morning.

"Thank you for everything. I know that I've given you the impression that I believed the opposite, but you really are a wonderful doctor, and the hospital is lucky to have you."

Beca didn't say what she really meant, that she was lucky to have her as a friend and that she could feel the stirrings of something between them.

"Well, I'm not surprised, Dr. Mitchell. The moment I saw you, I kinda always knew that you and I would be fast friends," Chloe chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Chloe?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me Beca. I think we're on a first name basis by now."

Chloe grinned in the darkness, unable to remember a time when she felt as happy as she did at that moment.

She wanted to stay there with Beca forever, but she knew that it was not possible. The overnight shift would be ending soon and in an hour the morning doctors and interns would be in to take their place.

Other members of the hospital staff would be there shortly as well and if they weren't in their labs and offices already.

As comfortable as she was, and as happy as she was with her newfound closeness with Beca, she would rather not entertain the thought of any of their colleagues entering the lounge and finding the two of them together on the cot.

"Beca?"

"Mmm?" she looked up at Chloe sleepily.

Suddenly, Chloe had trouble remembering all of the good reasons why they shouldn't just stay there forever. It would be so easy to lean down and kiss those lips, but she snapped herself out of it mentally. Beca didn't feel the same way about her, and she was sure this would send their newfound friendship hurtling through the chutes.

"Uh, I was just thinking that it's getting late, or early, anyway. We'd better get going."

"You're right." She replied.

Chloe had secretly hoped that she would have argued with her just a little, because then she would have been able to give in.

Instead, Beca got up slowly and stretched.

Chloe stood up as well and gathered up their lab coats. They exited the lounge and walked into the hallway not noticing that Jesse and Stacie Conrad were passing by. The pair stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Beca and Chloe leave the lounge.

"Let me give you a ride home, Chloe. After what you did for me, it's the least I can do." Beca had a look of sincere appreciation on her face.

"Thanks, Beca," Chloe replied with a sleepy grin.

The two continued on their way down the hall, oblivious to their two colleagues.

"Chloe?" Stacie asked with arched eyebrows.

"Beca?" Jesse inquired with a smirk.

"I didn't know she even knew her first name," Stacie remarked.

"I didn't know she even went by her first name," Jesse replied.

"I wonder what she did for her," Stacie asked with a wink.

"Don't you wish you knew?" Jesse laughed as he smacked Stacy on her arm.

The two of them shook their heads and continued walking down the hallway.


	8. Chapter 8

The ride to Chloe's apartment seemed far too short. Beca pulled up her Jeep right in front of her building and put it in park.

"Well," she said.

"I want to thank you, Chloe. For everything. I've never told anyone the things I told you last night. I'm sorry, I guess I dumped my problems on you. I'm not really good with all this expressing of emotions…" Beca trailed off, looking unsure of herself for the first time.

"No, you didn't." Chloe smiled reassuringly.

"I promise, I won't tell anyone anything you told me."

"I know you won't," Beca flashed her a tentative grin.

They settled into a moment of awkward silence.

"I'm going to head back to Barden around nine thirty. Would you like me to pick you up on the way?" she asked.

"No, it's all right, but thanks," Chloe replied.

She saw the disappointment flash across Beca's face which was quickly hidden by a neutral expression.

"I have a few things I need to do around the apartment. I wasn't planning on going in until a bit later, but how about we met for lunch?"

Beca grinned. "I'd like that," she replied.

* * *

\\\\\\\\

Chloe got into her office around 10:30am that morning. She had planned to prep the very last test samples for the preliminary round of testing she was going to do for the diabetes research project.

As she walked down the hallway towards her office, she saw Dr. Jesse Swanson and Dr. Stacie Conrad headed in the opposite direction.

"Chloe!" Jesse called out.

"Hi guys," Chloe replied with a smile.

"Rough night?" Stacie inquired as she tried to suppress a smile.

"Yeah. It was a little rough in the ER I guess," Chloe replied.

She was uncomfortably aware of how her colleagues seemed to be hovering around her this morning.

"Nothing unusual though, it was mostly a few cardiac cases and a false alarm from a pregnant woman."

"Right," Jesse replied with a wink and a grin.

"Of course. I'm sure there was nothing unusual." Stacie chimed in. "I heard that Beca was also on call last night."

"Right," Chloe repeated slowly, a little unsure where the conversation was headed.

"So I guess I'll see you guys later," Chloe said before opening her office door to make a quick exit.

Jesse looked at Stacie with a knowing grin as Chloe disappeared into her office. "Wanna bet how long it'll take for them to officially get together?" he asked mischievously.

"I give them two weeks tops," Stacie replied with a chuckle.

"Two weeks?!" Jesse exclaimed. "Not with all of that tension. I say a week or less. Loser buys shots."

"You're on, Swanson."

* * *

\\\\\\\\\\

Chloe went about her work day without any interruptions, finally finishing about two hours later.

She looked up at the clock and sighed nervously. After hesitating for a moment, she grabbed her coat and headed out of her office, walking the short distance to Beca's office.

'Here goes nothing,' she thought. 'I've got no reason to be nervous. We're just two friends going out to lunch together. I've gone out to lunch with friends before. No big deal right? Yeah right.' She snorted inwardly.

She opened the door and walked into Beca's office. "Hello, Dr. Beale," Rita, the receptionist greeted her warmly with a smile. "I assume you are here to see Dr. Mitchell?"

"Hello, Rita," Chloe replied. "Yes, that's right we have a lunch appointment today."

Rita picked up the phone and punched the speed dial button for Beca's office. "Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Beale is here to see you."

Beca soon emerged from her office.

"Hey, Chloe," she smiled at the redhead. Chloe found herself blushing inexplicably.

"Hi Beca," she responded with a shy grin.

"Rita, I'll be back around two. If Dr. Hoffman calls please tell him to leave a message on my voicemail."

"Of course Dr. Mitchell."

"Thank you, Rita," she called as she exited through the door together with Chloe.

* * *

Beca suggested an Italian restaurant downtown and she readily agreed. They made the ten minute trip in Beca's car, and despite the lunchtime crowd, a table was soon made available for Dr. Mitchell and her colleague.

"I'm impressed," Chloe said after they were shown to the best table in the restaurant.

"Don't be," Beca replied with a grin. "It's my father who has the real reputation around here. I just get to enjoy the perks because it's considered a personal favor to Dr. Warren Mitchell."

"You must get along really well with your dad," Chloe said.

The waiter came by to take their orders before Beca could respond. As soon as he left, she replied, "Yeah, my dad's great. He made a big impact on my life and my decision to go into medicine, I guess. We had a bit of a rough relationship when he divorced my mom but he really made up for it when I went to college and it got better over time. When I completed my residency at Stanford I knew that I wanted to be closer to him, so I applied to Barden and was fortunate to have gotten a position."

"What about you? What made you want to become a doctor?" Beca asked. "Were your parents in medicine as well?"

Chloe shook her head.

"Nope. My dad's an architect and my mom was a teacher. When I was eleven, my folks were in a car accident," she began.

Chloe saw Beca's smile disappear.

"I was running out to meet them and I saw a minivan swerve out of control and into their car. The whole thing felt like it was in slow motion, and I ran towards them but there was nothing I could do."

"When I got to their car, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I did the first thing that came to mind and I ran to Dr. Hunt's house. He was a neighbor of ours. Fortunately, he was at home and I managed to explain to him what had happened. The next thing I knew he was calling his wife to call for an ambulance, and then he ran to my parent's car."

"Thankfully, he saved their lives. I guess I knew then that that was what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people the way that Dr. Hunt did. He just raced in and saved the day. I wanted people to be able to count on me, just the same way that they counted on him."

"Wow. So I guess that's why you did a double residency in the ER, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Chloe replied with a small smile. "I joined a Lifeflight program while I was a resident and volunteered two weekends a month. There's no feeling quite like it, being in a helicopter and flying down to rescue people."

"I did my emergency medical residency at Emory and my first and second years of cardiology there, and then spent a year volunteering in Cape Town. I figured it would be nice to try something different. But, as much as I love to travel, I knew it would be important to finish up my residency so I completed that in UCSF. My best friend moved to New York to begin her law career so it's always been another city I've considered moving to."

"So, you don't plan on staying in Barden for good?" Beca asked, trying to mask her disappointment.

"I didn't plan on it at first, but now I think I might just stick around. The city grows on you. How about you? I'm assuming you are a permanent fixture in Baton Rouge."

"Well, I didn't grow up here, but I don't really plan on leaving anytime soon. My dad is staying here for the long term of course, and my step-mom Sheila is a tenured professor at Barden. Although, my mom is back in California so that could be an option if I grow tired of this small town," Beca smiled wistfully at the redhead.

"Can I ask you something personal?" Chloe said, sensing the mood had shifted.

"Well it depends on what," Beca gave a suggestive wink. "We did spend the night together in the on-call room so I'm open for anything…"

"Funny, Mitchell. I was just wondering why you choose to work in the ER."

"The ER in Barden is so understaffed. They need another surgeon on staff as it is."

"Forgive me for being presumptuous Dr. Mitchell, but somehow I can't really believe that you work in the ER just to 'take one for the team.'"

"You're right Beale. You found my weakness. I work in the ER because I love the long hours." She smiled at her joke.

"I'm serious," Chloe replied. "In fact, I think I have my own hypothesis."

"Care to share your scientific theory, Beale?"

"Gladly, Mitchell. I think that you and I are not as different as you might think. I think you work in the ER because it's where you can make the most difference. I mean, when you save a life in there, well, it's like nothing else, and no matter how bad things get, you can always say that you helped someone. Nothing could be more satisfying and important than that."

"I see," Beca said slowly.

"So tell me, Beale, how has this hypothesis held up under testing?"

"Repeated testing has confirmed my hypothesis Dr. Mitchell. In fact, I think its about time I declared the hypothesis to be a fact."

"Oh really?"

"Mm-hmm."

Their eyes met, and Chloe felt herself beginning to blush under Beca's gaze. She looked away, afraid that she had made her uncomfortable.

Chloe nearly jumped out of her chair when she felt Beca casually place a gentle hand on top of hers. She felt a surge of electricity course through her body and wondered if the brunette had felt it too.

"You know Beale," she said in a conspiratorial tone, "few people have really tried to get to know the real me, so it's nice to finally meet someone that does."

Chloe smiled back at her, not sure what else to say.

"Well. It's getting kind of late," Beca said, ending the awkward silence. "We should probably get going."

"I guess so," Chloe replied.

After a spirited debate, Beca insisted on paying the check. They drove back to the hospital and Beca walked Chloe back to her office.

Chloe had expected her to say goodbye to her in the hallway and walk the several paces back to her own office, but when she opened the door for Chloe and walked into her office, she couldn't help but follow her in.

Beca closed the door after she had walked through.

"I just wanted to thank you again, Chloe, for being there for me last night."

"You don't have to thank me Beca," she closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly, hoping that Beca couldn't hear how quickly her heart was beating.

Beca hugged her back, savoring the ability to hold the redhead, even if she knew it was just a friendly hug. They both held on a little longer than necessary.

When Chloe finally pulled away from her, she looked up and made eye contact. This time neither one turned away. She then stood on her toes and gently kissed the brunette on the cheek. "Thank you for lunch."

Beca wanted nothing more at that moment than to lean in and kiss the redhead firmly on her lips, but instead she withdrew reluctantly.

"Goodbye, Chloe," she whispered.

"Goodbye, Beca," she replied.

* * *

Beca walked back to her office with a sappy grin on her face. She wasn't sure why but the redheaded doctor was making her feel things she had never felt before.

Beca stopped in the hallway when she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"Becaw!"

She whipped around with a smile. "Swanson. It's been a while. How's it going?"

"Good. I just had lunch with Stacie. She said she saw you and Dr. Beale headed out to lunch together," he winked at her suggestively.

"Get your mind out of the gutter Jesse. There's nothing going on." Beca huffed.

"Well I hope it does … you know how I've said you need to get out more. Life isn't just about work you know." he said in a half serious tone.

"Yeah, whatever."

"Well, anyway, Stacie and I are headed out to the bar for drinks tonight. Care to join us? It'll be fun to hang out again just like old times"

"We won't mind if you bring the redhead too," he whispered conspiratorially. "It'll be like a double date."

Beca punched him in the arm.

"Very funny Swanson. No promises, but I'll think about it." she said, as she opened the door to her office.


	9. Chapter 9

Beca sat down at her desk, trying to take in all that had happened in the last 24 hours. How did Chloe do it? How did she manage to figure her out so quickly?

Frankly speaking, Beca had spent most of her life mastering the art of distancing, of keeping people out and only letting them know about her only what she wanted them to know. It was what she did because it was what she had always done.

As a child growing up, having to deal with her parents' divorce and the disappointment of seeing two of the people she loved the most split in such a painful way, Beca had learned quickly what happened when you formed strong emotional attachments to people.

Having been shuttled between her mom and dad, bouncing from school to school and one home to another had taught her to keep people from getting too close. That habit, the habit of only letting people know the most superficial details about herself was never broken. Sure, she wasn't the most popular kid in school, but she did have friends. Except that none of them really knew _her_.

Funnily enough, as hard as it was for others to get to know the real Beca, it was usually so easy for her to know them. To most outsiders, Beca was oblivious to everything that went on around her that didn't directly concern her, when in actual fact, she had the kind of perception that one could only develop by being an outsider. She had an uncanny ability to read people quickly, easily, and fairly accurately. She based a great deal on first impressions, and while her opinions about people changed after more exchanges with them, her attitude often didn't.

She kept most people guessing about her, and about what she thought about others. She was generally cold, aloof, and distant, because it was the easiest way to keep people from really knowing her, a coping mechanism that she clung to for no other reason than the fact that it was a constant. Except with Chloe.

Chloe was an enigma she hadn't anticipated. She was so much more than what she appeared; bubbly and lighthearted but with the kindest heart she had ever known.

In any event, Chloe had managed to do something that no one else, not even Jesse or Stacie, had ever done before. She managed to break down Beca's barriers and catch a glimpse of what lay behind her typically cool exterior.

Why had she let her guard down? She felt exposed and vulnerable. Chloe's words today touched a chord deep inside of her.

She was confused how quickly it they got along, and how well the redhead seemed to know her, how easily she got past the 'badass alt girl' exterior.

What was it that gave her such insight? What made him enough of an outsider to be able to see through her.

Of course, Chloe was all parts friendly, warm and good looking. Really good looking. But Beca didn't want to allow her thoughts to go there.

She shook her head, trying to clear out thoughts about the redhead so she could focus on her work. It didn't happen. Every few minutes, she found her mind drifting back to her.

Beca trusted Chloe the way she trusted very few people. She had seen her at her lowest point, when she was most vulnerable, but instead of attacking her when she was weak, she was there to provide comfort. And she had.

Beca felt different when she was with Chloe. This sudden realization almost floored her. She couldn't think of anything more dangerous than that.

She looked at her watch and sighed. It was nearly 3pm. Beca had several appointments in the afternoon and couldn't allow her mind to wander anymore when she was supposed to be focusing on the problems of her patients.

When her third consultation ended just after 5:30, she decided to leave for the day and stop by her father's office.

* * *

Beca entered the open office door and found her dad busy at his computer. He looked up at the sound of her walking in and smiled.

"Becs!"

"Hi Dad," she replied with a grin.

She crossed his office to take a look at what he was working so intently on.

"Well, you're in an unusually good mood today," he teased.

"How's the testing going?" she inquired, ignoring his question.

"It's going pretty well. One of the test monkeys was suffering from an irregular heart rhythm and we decided to implant her first" he explained.

"So far, the device that we implanted seems to have worked, and she's never been better," he beamed as he showed her the graphs on his computer.

"Has she been suffering from any side effects?"

"Nope. Nothing other than those usually following a cardiac operation. We've been hooking her up to the ECG ever day and her heart's beating as steady as a metronome. Starting next week we're going to begin monitoring her heart rate with different levels of exercise to see how the chip on the device does with different types of exertion."

Warren Mitchell opened the spreadsheet on the data from the recent tests and allowed Beca to scroll through it.

"This is amazing, dad," she said, when she finished scrutinizing the data.

She caught a glimpse of the balance sheets strewn across his desk, mainly with budget projections listed in red numbers.

"If only the hospital was willing to give us the budget that we needed ..." she sighed.

"Don't worry Becs, we'll figure it out. We need about a hundred thousand more to complete the tests this quarter. I'll take a loan out from the bank if we need to…"

"Dad, you can't do that!"

"Becs, I know this project is as important to you as it is to me. I also know that you have been thinking of doing the same thing, so don't tell me otherwise."

"But that's different…" Beca whined.

"Besides, you shouldn't be too worried about it. With the results we are getting, we should be able to get additional independent funding by taking on another partner." Dr. Mitchell continued without missing a beat.

"Well, just promise that you'll talk to me before you do anything."

"Of course I will, Beca. We're in this together"

"Great. Well, I better get going. Jesse and Stacie invited me out tonight and I was hoping to get home for a shower first before meeting them."

"All right. Take care Becs. Oh, by the way, Sheila asked when you're coming over for dinner next. She was wondering if you were free tomorrow night."

"That's nice of her. I've got rounds in the ER tomorrow night. Maybe we could try for next week?" Beca responded. She hadn't seen Sheila in a while and it would be nice to catch up.

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow. Don't stay out too late!"

"Very funny dad." Beca smirked at her father before walking out his office.

As she was walking to her car, she decided on a whim to text Chloe to see if she were available that evening. 'I'm just asking her out because Jesse asked me to. It's purely platonic' she reasoned.

_B: Hey. I'm planing to join Jesse and Stacie at Pete's tonight. You interested?_

Two minutes later a text popped up on her phone.

_C: Sure! That sounds like fun :) :)_

_B: Great. Need a ride? I'm headed home and can pick u up at 730_

_C: Perfect. See you soon!_


	10. Chapter 10

"So, what's up?" Aubrey asks even before she can say hello.

"Not much. I'm actually just getting ready to head out with some colleagues for drinks." Chloe responded cheerfully as she picked up her cell.

"Oh really? You sound like you're in a good mood. I'm guessing a certain Dr. Mitchell is also going for drinks?"

"How'd you know?"

Chloe could almost hear Aubrey smirk in response over the phone.

"Lucky guess. How have things been between both of you?"

"It's going really well actually. Beca has really started to warm up to me and we've been getting to know each other a little more. She's not as much of an ice queen like I thought she was. She's actually really nice, Aubrey. I think you'd like her."

"Well, you guys must be getting real cozy now that you are on a first name basis," Aubrey said teasingly.

"Aubrey!" Chloe said indignantly. "We're just friends, that's all."

"Well you know how I feel about you dating. You have to circulate more Chloe."

"You know how busy I am. I don't have time for a relationship right now, and I just moved into town!"

"This is exactly what I mean Chloe. I don't mean to be a nag, but I want you to be happy."

"Yeah. I know. I have to go now, Beca's coming to pick me up in half an hour and I need to finish getting ready."

"Picking you up huh? So much for it not being a date." Aubrey snorted.

"Well enjoy your night and text me if anything interesting happens."

"I will. Bye Bree."

"Bye Chloe"

Chloe hung up and looked at herself in the mirror, putting the finishing touches on her makeup. A little while later, she glanced down at her cell phone and saw that Beca had texted her.

'_I'm about 5 mins away.'_

_'__Great, I'll be down at curbside' _she texted back.

Chloe wasn't quite sure what to make of Beca asking her out for drinks with Jesse and Stacie, but she shoved the thought at the back of her mind. They were just friends.

'Friends ask friends out for drinks.' she reminded herself as she grabbed her handbag and keys.

* * *

"You look…nice." Beca said as she entered the car, giving her a quick glance over that Chloe didn't miss.

"Thanks." Chloe said with a shy smile.

"So, where are we headed to?" she asked brightly, changing the topic before they ventured into awkward silence territory.

Beca grinned.

"I keep forgetting that you are new to town. We're going to be hanging out at Pete's, one of the local dives that Jesse, Stacie and I often frequent. You'll like it, it'd be nice to chill after a long day."

* * *

When the two of them arrived at the bar they were shown quickly to a booth where Jesse, Stacie and Amy were already seated. The trio was laughing at one of the stories Fat Amy was telling them about a patient

"Beca, Chloe! You guys made it. We were beginning to wonder if you two had skipped out on us for some one on one time." Jesse greeted them each with a hug and a wide grin.

Beca shot him a glare, while Chloe couldn't help but feel a blush creep up her face.

"Very funny Swanson. We were caught in traffic, you know how it gets." Beca responded quickly, trying to change the topic before it got out of hand.

"So where are the drinks? I'm buying the first round."

The group settled back into the booth and started swapping stories about crazy patients and their day of cases.

After one too many drinks, Beca leaned back against the booth with a happy grin. She hadn't felt this relaxed and happy in a long while. Of course, part of the reason had been because of Chloe, but she wasn't quite ready to admit that just yet.

With the five of them seated close together she couldn't help but be pressed up against Chloe's side, which left her with a warm buzz and a comfortable feeling.

The bar had gotten more crowded since the live band had started and a dance crowd was forming at the foot of the stage.

Beca heard the familiar sounds of Titanium coming from the speakers.

"Want to dance?" Chloe asked Beca, poking her lightly in the ribs.

"I love this song." she grinned.

"You know David Guetta?" Beca asked with a raised eyebrow. "Didn't think you were the type."

"Have I been living under a rock? This song is my jam. My lady jam."

"The song really builds." the redhead winked at her knowingly.

Beca found her mouth gape open slightly in surprise but no words came out. Had Chloe just flirted openly with her? She glanced around to see if the rest of the gang had noticed, but they were all caught up in their own conversation.

"C'mon Dr. Mitchell. Let's go dance."

"Sure, why not." Beca found herself saying, even though she did not normally dance. In fact, she hated dancing. That was never her quite her thing. Beca Mitchell did not dance.

This was probably an alcohol-induced decision, she reasoned with herself, as she found herself being led willingly out to the dance floor by the redhead.

Once there, she realized that this would be more of a challenge than she had originally thought.

Watching Chloe swaying and grinding her hips to the beat of Titanium, Beca found herself going insane. She wanted so desperately to pull her closer, to feel her warm body pressed tightly against hers. Instead, she found her hands ghosting the side of the redhead's hips as she fought against the urge to pull her even closer.

Just then, the song ended, and the band shifted into a slower beat. Beca could see in her periphery that the rest of the couples around them had started to adopt an intimate slow dance position.

Before she could say anything, she felt Chloe's hand on her shoulder and she unconsciously began to move hers gently over the small of the redhead's back. The next thing she knew, she found herself pressed against the front of Chloe's warm body, in a way that was not how they had started out. Caught up in the magic of the moment, Beca let her arm slide down from Chloe's shoulder to rest against her hips.

God, she smelled so good.

"I love music." Chloe whispered into her ear, as they swayed to the beat.

"Do you?" she whispered back, afraid to look up at the redhead for fear that the moment would end. No, she was not prepared for this moment to end.

She heard Chloe sigh her response and felt her move even closer, pulling their joined hands in toward their bodies, as she brushed the side of her head against hers.

"Beca?" Both Beca and Chloe froze in their positions as a woman's voice invoked the interruption for them.

Beca sighed deeply in frustration and disengaged from the redhead, who opened her eyes and stared deeply into hers. There was a fizzle of something palpable. Beca felt a rush of conflicting emotions, most of them begging her to kiss the redhead.

"Beca Mitchell!" the voice continued, unaware of what she had been interrupting. "I can't believe it's you."

Beca turned toward the familiar voice and backed two steps away from Chloe, clearing her throat.

"Marie!" Beca stared in shock at the familiar face of her ex-girlfriend. Of all the damn gin joints in the world.

Marie reached out and Beca hugged her awkwardly, trying not to look at Chloe. Trying not to think of Chloe. Which was basically impossible since she was standing right there; since they had just spent the last fifteen minutes wrapped up in each other's arms.

She swallowed and then remembered that she hadn't even introduced them.

"Chloe, this is –"

"Marie. Marie Richardson. Beca's ex." The blonde lady blurted, without letting Beca complete her sentence.

Chloe smiled, cleared her throat and took the outstretched hand.

"Chloe Beale. I'm Beca's colleague."

There was a pregnant pause as Chloe glanced over at Beca, and found her expression to be one of quiet apology.

"Is it hot in here, or is it just me?" Chloe fanned herself slightly as her eyes searched for an escape. Anything to get her away from 'Marie Surprise Richardson'. It wasn't like she didn't like the woman. Well, okay it was. The blonde was a gorgeous woman and probably Beca's type.

Why should the fact that she was Beca's ex make any difference to her? Whatever the reason, it just seemed that it did make a difference, and since rationalizing things out on a dance floor wasn't nearly as satisfying as allowing herself the luxury of disliking the woman immediately, Chloe decided not to fight it. At least for now.

"I'm a little warm myself actually," Marie chimed in sweetly.

"In fact," she continued, "Beca, do you want to grab a drink and catch up for old time's sake?"

Chloe tossed a look at Beca and saw her shuffling her feet awkwardly as she tried to get a handle on the situation.

She decided to make things easier for the brunette.

"You know what?" Chloe smiled at Marie. "I think I'm going to head back to the booth. It's getting late and I should probably head back home. Early doctor hours and all."

"Chloe, wait …" Beca trailed off uncertainly. "I can give you a ride home."

"No worries," Chloe said a little too chirpily. "I can grab a ride from Stacie or Jesse. You two enjoy yourself. See you tomorrow."

Before Beca could say anything else, the redhead turned in the direction of their booth, leaving them both with a small wave. Beca watched her go, regretfully before turning to the blonde.

This was not how she wanted her night to end.


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry for the delay in the update guys ... work has been crazy and I haven't had the time to sit down and write. Not sure how many of you are still reading, but I do intend to finish this fic though, so bear with me and thank you again for all the reviews :)

* * *

Chloe slipped the key into the lock of her apartment and wiggled it until it clicked and the door slid quietly open.

Dropping her purse into a nearby chair, she pulled off her earrings and headed toward her bedroom with a deep sigh. She was exhausted. The night hadn't gone exactly as she had hoped it would. Perhaps she was foolish to even think that Beca would feel the same way about her. After all, if the brunette even remotely felt the same, there was no way that she would have let her leave by herself.

'It doesn't matter Beale' she reasoned to herself, 'you both are better off as colleagues.'

* * *

Beca sat on the edge of her bar stool and sighed inwardly.

As Marie had ushered her towards the bar, Beca had watched intently as Chloe headed toward their booth. Seeing her leave with Jesse and Amy, she felt a twinge of guilt that she hadn't done more to stop the redhead from leaving.

Marie smiled at the brunette and carefully dropped two ice cubes into her whiskey tumbler. The two had spent the last fifteen minutes making casual small talk and updating each other on the latest developments in their lives, but the conversation had come to an awkward silence.

"So….. penny for your thoughts?" the blonde smiled and watched as Beca fidgeted uneasily with her glass.

"You know, it's always worse when you plan on having a conversation, isn't it?" Beca said with a wry grin.

"I guess that depends on what you plan on talking about," Marie said matter-of-factly.

Beca nodded in agreement.

"Right. Well, that's actually –"

"It's Chloe, isn't it?" Marie cut in, nodding as she spoke. She wore a smile on her face, but the slight trembling in her hands betrayed her real emotions. Beca couldn't help but follow the small drop of whiskey that spilled over the edge of her glass at her slight motion.

"Marie –"

"I could see Beca, it was obvious to me. I saw the way you were looking at her. I saw the way she was looking at you."

Beca glanced at her hands as Marie went on, the tremor evident now in her voice.

Beca had to admire her courage.

"You're in love with her, aren't you?" A heavy silence fell between them and Beca swallowed.

"You were looking at her the way I always wished you had looked at me", Marie continued bravely.

"Marie –"

"No, it's okay Beca. I know things didn't end well between us, but I have always cared for you… and I always will."

"Marie… that was a long time ago. You have to know that I cared for – still care – for you. I mean I do. But it's just that –" Beca fumbled for the right words and knew she was failing miserably. She hadn't ended their relationship in as mature a way as she would have liked and she was inwardly kicking herself for it.

"Don't worry. She likes you too, Beca," Marie cut in softly, lessening the tension and letting her know without so many words that she understood.

"Any woman can see that in another woman's eyes. And Chloe Beale has got it just as badly as you do." The blonde woman forced a smile and Beca regarded her with an expression of apology mixed with slight frustration.

She wanted to know how Marie knew, she wanted to ask her, but she knew that asking would probably only hurt her further.

"Marie …"

"I guess it was silly of me to think that seeing you here – after all these years – that we might have had another chance at connecting again."

"Well, we had quite a trip though, didn't we?" the blonde laughed humorlessly when Beca didn't answer.

Beca smiled at her and tugged her gently toward her for a small hug.

"Chloe Beale is one lucky woman."

"I don't know Marie," she confessed. "Sometimes I think that it would probably be better for everyone if I stopped trying to do this whole 'love' thing altogether." Her lips twisted into a half smile and she absently twisted the ring on her thumb.

Marie suddenly looked serious and took both of her hands in hers.

"Beca, promise me one thing?"

The brunette nodded, uncertain where she was headed.

"Stop running."

Beca looked up in surprise at her words.

"There's only so far you can go before you realize you're on your way back to where you came from. Life's like that. And I don't want to see you alone." She squeezed the brunette's hands briefly.

Beca shook her head slightly. "Marie, I don't know if I deserve –"

"You deserve to be truthful with yourself Beca. Be honest here." She tapped Beca's chest affectionately.

"You can't live with yourself – even as much as you immerse yourself alone in work – if you're not. Trust me, I've been there. Breaking up with you was perhaps my biggest learning on this topic." She smiled with a wry grin.

"But most importantly Beca, you deserve to be happy."

Marie downed her drink and pushed back her barstool.

"Well, I better go. It was nice seeing you again, Beca."

"Marie – you just got here," Beca started.

"I know, but I guess this was the goodbye that I always wanted … or perhaps the goodbye that I wish you had said to me before."

"Tell Chloe not to worry, I swear I'm not the violent jealous type." She winked at the brunette.

Beca returned her smile.

"I know you're not." She kissed her cheek.

"You're wonderful. And I'm really sorry."

The blonde gave her a slight smile, inclined her head, touched her fingers to her lips and then held them out towards her.

"Take care of yourself Beca," she said, before turning and heading towards the door.

"Take care, Marie" Beca whispered as she watched the blonde walk out of the bar.

This was definitely not how she expected her night to end.


	12. Chapter 12

Friday morning could not have passed more slowly for Beca. After Marie had left, she had texted Chloe to see if she had managed to get home okay but hadn't received a response from the redhead and this worried her.

She had spent the rest of the evening tossing and turning in bed wondering if she had screwed things up with the redhead, but also wondering about what Marie had said to her the night before.

'Great way to screw up a budding relationship last night Mitchell' she groaned inwardly.

Beca stared up at the clock on the wall in her office for about the millionth time. It was a quarter till twelve. Based on the locker room schedule, Chloe would be off in forty-five minutes. Perhaps she could take the redhead out to lunch as an apology for last night.

She frowned slightly at the clock, wishing that time would pass more quickly.

Just then, the phone in her office rang, and she gave up her mind games with the clock to answer it. It was a member of the hospital Board calling to go over the budget allocation again.

Beca found herself tied up with administrative nonsense for over an hour. When she looked up at the clock again; it was almost one. Chloe had probably already left for lunch.

After a frustrating and seemingly pointless exercise in dealing with hospital red tape, the budget issue was resolved, although she still wasn't quite sure what the problem had been in the first place.

She was just tying up the last of the loose ends before heading to the hospital cafeteria for a quick lunch when she heard a slight knock at her door.

'This had better not be another unwanted interruption,' she thought to herself.

'Coming!' she called out before heading to open her office door.

"Chloe!"

Beca couldn't help the grin on her face when she was greeted with the sight of the redhead, arms full with takeout containers. Perhaps this day wasn't going to be so bad after all.

"Beca," the redhead smiled back hesitantly, unsure if she was welcome.

"I was held up in the cath lab with a long case, and it was getting late so I thought I'd pick up some take out. I hope you haven't had lunch yet."

"No, this looks great, thank you."

"Uh... let me help you with that" Beca continued quickly as she unburdened Chloe with half of the little cartons of Chinese food she was carrying and walked inside her office, placing the containers on her desk.

Chloe followed her into the office and began organizing the cartons as Beca searched for paper plates.

"So, how's Marie?" Chloe finally broke the topic, trying to keep her voice neutral as possible.

"She's fine … I mean I assume she's okay - "

"You assume?" Chloe looked questioningly at the brunette who was fidgeting with her chopsticks.

"Well, I mean we caught up briefly, but she left the bar pretty soon after you did …"

"I'm not following you." Chloe's voice was almost perfectly calm.

"Well, she and I had a long history together, but all that is water under the bridge. Our breakup wasn't one that I was the most proud of, and I think last night was the closure she had always been seeking …"

Chloe couldn't help but stifle the small grin and warm glimmer of hope that flickered in her chest when she heard the rambling words coming out of Beca's mouth. But she quelled the surge of emotion down.

'Beca is just a friend. She just sees you as a friend, Beale snap out of it.'

The two of them sat at Beca's desk enjoying a somewhat casual and relaxed lunch, talking and laughing about nothing of importance.

For the third time in half an hour, Beca rubbed absently at the back of her neck. Chloe frowned as she did. The brunette was obviously in some degree of discomfort.

"What's wrong?" she asked, trying not to sound overprotective and overly concerned.

"Oh, this? It's nothing. I guess I just slept in an awkward position, that's all."

Beca winced as she stretched her arms over her head.

"Here, let me see if I can help,"

Before she could say anything to the contrary, Beca felt a pair of warm hands on her shoulders. She closed her eyes as Chloe began kneading gently, applying just the right amount of pressure.

* * *

Stacie walked towards Beca's office determined to speak to the brunette. Jesse had told her what had happened the night before and she wanted to check in to make sure Beca was okay.

Sometimes Beca had the tendency to wrap her head around the wrong things and she was sure that the brunette doctor was overanalyzing the situation.

She paused right outside Beca's office and was startled to hear the distinct sound of voices coming from the office. Puzzled, she leaned closer to try to make out the sound of the voices.

It wasn't … it was! Stacie grinned to herself.

She could hear Beca's voice, but the other was higher and feminine, and it sounded just like a certain …

"Mmmm… Chloe, that feels so good," she heard Beca murmur breathlessly.

'Why Beca, you dirty little bird!' Stacie thought to herself. She shook her head with a small grin on her face, and slipped quietly down the hallway while she still had a chance. Jesse was totally wrong about the two it seemed.

* * *

Beca couldn't help but let out a small groan of pleasure as the tension in her shoulders melted away.

"How are you doing that Beale? Your fingers are like magic."

"Uh… I once took a massage class in college."

"Closet masseuse huh?"

"You could be real handy to have around it seems, Beale" Beca smirked.

Chloe was glad that Beca's back was toward her and that she couldn't see the blush that crept up her face.

Beca sighed happily. Did the redhead even realize the effect that she was having on her? She felt so relaxed and so excited all at once.

She didn't know what the redhead was doing to create such feelings inside of her, but she didn't care. All she knew is that she didn't want her to stop.

Chloe's hands fanned out over her shoulder blades as her fingers set to work on her upper back. Beca's body tingled and she felt like she was on fire everywhere that she touched her. If her body responded in this way to a simple shoulder rub, she idly wondered what it would be like to kiss the redhead.

'If she kisses as well as she gives shoulder rubs, I'll be in a whole lot of trouble,' she thought dreamily. She tried to shake the thought. It was out of the question. It didn't matter what Chloe Beale kissed like because she wasn't going to kiss her.

Chloe felt Beca's muscles relax under her touch. She knew that she shouldn't be taking any pleasure out of this other than the satisfaction of making a friend feel better, but she couldn't help it. She couldn't help but feel secretly thrilled about the way that Beca was responding to her touch, the fact that she had allowed her this simple contact, and the fact that she seemed to be enjoying it as well.

"Thank you Chloe," Beca said as she stretched. She felt infinitely better.

"Of course Beca. That's what friends are for," Chloe replied cheerfully.

They sat quietly for a moment, neither one sure what to say.

"Well, I should probably get going…." Chloe said, ending the long moment of silence.

Beca stood up, amazed at how good her body felt despite the long morning which had been preceded by an uncomfortable and sleepless night.

"Yeah, I guess so," she responded wistfully, standing up to walk the redhead to the door.

"Thanks again for lunch Chloe, and for the massage,"

"My pleasure," she grinned.

'God, that smile could sail a thousand ships.' Beca thought as she fidgeted nervously with her thumb ring before looking at the redhead in the eye.

"So… um. I was wondering what you were doing this weekend" she trailed off uncertainly.

"I mean, I am on call tonight and will probably be crashing all tomorrow, but I was wondering if you would be up for hanging out together on Sunday. Maybe we could grab dinner or something in exchange for today's lunch … "

She smiled timidly, somewhat embarrassed by her own nervousness.

Chloe's eyes grew wide but she recovered quickly.

"Are you asking me out Mitchell?" she responded in a teasing tone.

"Maybe. Don't get too cocky Beale." Beca smirked, having regained her confidence at the redhead's teasing tone.

"Well, I did say that we would be fast friends."

"If you wanted to hang with 'all this' (the redhead gestured at herself) "all you had to do was ask," Chloe bantered.

"Ha ha very funny. So I guess I'll pick you up at six on Sunday?" Beca smiled happily as she felt a sappy grin forming on her face.

"Sounds good. Goodbye Beca".

"Bye Chloe."


End file.
